Science News Digest - 28 August 2009
In the science news this week: artificial life could be only a few months away, eradicating incurable genetic diseases, and find out what the internet thinks of you.
New lease of life?
Lab-created life is only four months away, science entrepreneur Craig Venter has told the Times.
“Assuming we don’t make any errors, I think it should work and we should have the first synthetic species by the end of the year” he said.
Venter came to fame when he led a private project to sequence the human genome. He’s been chasing his dream of creating artificial organisms for more than a decade, working with scientists at his J. Craig Venter Institute, in Rockville, Maryland.
The countdown’s been kicked off after the team cleared a hurdle that had held them up for two years, and have now developed a new process for transplanting DNA into bacteria.
The potential breakthrough has a wealth of possible applications, including new ways of manufacturing medicines and vaccines. Venter’s already involved in projects to use synthetic biology to create bacteria that transform coal to clean natural gas, and algae that soak up carbon dioxide and turn it into hydrocarbon fuels. “This could be one of the most powerful tools in biology” stressed Venter.
Hamilton Smith, a Nobel laureate who is another leader of the research, voiced: “I believe this work has important implications in better understanding the fundamentals of biology to enable the final stages of our work in creating and booting up a synthetic genome. This is possibly one of the most important new findings in the field of synthetic genomics”.
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Gene genie
Scientists have made significant steps towards wiping-out incurable hereditary diseases, by creating monkeys which have a mix of DNA from three parents.
Around 50 known genetic diseases are caused by defects in mitochondrial DNA – or mDNA - and affect about one in 6,500 births in the UK. As well as conditions such as fatal liver-failure, blindness, diabetes and deafness, these gene mutants play a role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
It’s hoped this new work will pave the way to eradicate these diseases. MDNA is always passed down from the mother to her children, so if a woman carries the defect, her offspring are guaranteed to get it.
But the team from Oregon National Primate Research Centre, USA, have effectively created monkeys with two mothers and one father – swapping the macaque monkey mother’s mDNA for the mDNA of a donor egg.
Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, who led the research team, said: “With the proper government approvals, our work can rapidly be translated into clinical trials for humans, and, eventually, approved therapies”.
However the work is controversial because the genetic changes made could be passed down through generations. Mitalipov countered: “we are talking about birth defects that cause terrible diseases. The only way to treat them is to replace the genes”.
See the Guardian for more.
-----------------------------------------
Defying gravity
According to physics it shouldn’t really exist. Astronomers have found an enormous planet that orbits its star so closely gravity should soon send it spiralling into its sun’s searing surface.
Planet WASP-18b is ten times the size of Jupiter, and gravitational tidal interactions between it and its sun should be destructively pulling them together.
“The problem with this planet is that it’s very massive and very close to its star. It should be creating tidal bulges that makes it spiral into its star”, said Professor Andrew Collier Cameron of St Andrew’s University.
Astronomers say the discovery is very very unusual, and the chance of finding it at this stage is about 1 in 2,000. The planet’s at least 1 billion years old, yet has no more than half a million years left.
WASP-18b is 1,000 light years from Earth, and is one of more than 300 known “exoplanets”. Cameron said temperatures there exceed 2,100C. This is enough to create clouds of silica-based gems, so if anyone could visit the planet, they may see a sky full of diamonds and sapphires, he added.
Read all about it in the Independent.
-----------------------------------------
Trials on trial
There are big bucks to be made from medical research. There’s also gratifying discoveries, but researchers can sign commercial funding agreements or start companies – before testing is over – to turn out profitable treatments.
So where do the trial participants stand in this, do they have a right to know about monetary interests? Right now, legally no. But findings over the last few years suggest that ethically they should be informed before they agree to take part.
A letter published last week, featuring data and reports from numerous high-profile US institutions examines the goals and challenges of letting patients in on this information. Kevin Weinfurt, the paper’s lead author and an associate professor at Duke University in Durham, USA, said informing participants will lead to “better patient welfare”, “create trust” and “ultimately discourage financial conflicts of interest”.
However, some researchers say focussing on informing patients about financial interests is skirting a bigger issue. “What really matters”, said Scott Kim, associate professor in the bioethics programme at the University of Michigan, USA, is “that we understand conflict in the conception, design and implementation of the research – and the presentation of the data”.
“Society has put so much trust into academia as a disinterested, objective, honourable, above-the-fray institution – and researchers are like that, too” he added. But “most people don’t realise that these institutions have tremendous incentives to behave like for-profit institutions”. A major overhaul would be needed to change that perception and the current regulation. “Do we need to now reconceive these institutions and individuals? Where do we draw the line?”
Reported in Scientific America.
-----------------------------------------
Fake trees for real life
Carbon-grabbing artificial trees could soon be coming to a street near you, says the BBC.
These devices are the size of a shipping container and can remove thousands of times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as real trees. Within 10 to 20 years 100,000 could be deployed to combat climate change.
This geo-engineering idea is one of three highlighted in a new report from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. The report contains a number of proposed technologies to use on a short term basis to buy the world time. However the authors stress in the long term it is vital to reduce emissions.
Lead author Dr Tim Fox said geo-engineering is not a “silver bullet” and can’t combat climate change in isolation.
Two types of geo-engineering are defined by the authors. “The first category attempts to cool the planet by reflecting some of the sunlight away. The problem with that is it just masks the problem” said Nem Vaughan of University of East Anglia. “The second type of geo-engineering is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it.”
However the report called for carbon-removing technology to be advanced along with a carbon storage infrastructure. The captured carbon could be stored in empty North Sea oil wells.
Other technologies preferred by the report included use algae units to remove carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. These could be installed onto new buildings or added to old. Another option focussed on reflecting sunlight back into space, which could be done by giving buildings reflective roofs.
-----------------------------------------
Google me
Ever googled your own name? Many people would have to put their hands up, but now a company called Personas can take this one step further, data-mining the web to see how you’re viewed by the online world.
The company was set-up by Aaron Zinman, a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab. It runs a search on a given name, extracts statements from the web, and runs words from these through an algorithm. These are then linked to 28 topics, such as “travel” and “professional”.
The results can be a mixed bag. As well as making clear errors – such as defaulting statements to the wrong topic, or completely misinterpreting them – if you have a common name or share it with someone famous the data can have little relevance.
But the project wasn’t set up to create a useful application. Zinman created the company to highlight problems with computer analysis of large data sets, and describes Personas as “a critique on data mining”.
It’s part of an exhibit called Metropath(ologies) at the MIT Museum in Cambridge. This is described as an “installation about living in a world overflowing with information and non-stop communication”.
Some scientists think the criticism is unfair, though it is a “fun project”. “Criticising data mining for some people’s inability to separate false associations from real ones is like criticising the web because there are many bad pages” said Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro, president of KDnuggets, a data-mining consultancy in Boston.
See what Personas thought of New Scientist, and vice versa, here.
New lease of life?
Lab-created life is only four months away, science entrepreneur Craig Venter has told the Times.
“Assuming we don’t make any errors, I think it should work and we should have the first synthetic species by the end of the year” he said.
Venter came to fame when he led a private project to sequence the human genome. He’s been chasing his dream of creating artificial organisms for more than a decade, working with scientists at his J. Craig Venter Institute, in Rockville, Maryland.
The countdown’s been kicked off after the team cleared a hurdle that had held them up for two years, and have now developed a new process for transplanting DNA into bacteria.
The potential breakthrough has a wealth of possible applications, including new ways of manufacturing medicines and vaccines. Venter’s already involved in projects to use synthetic biology to create bacteria that transform coal to clean natural gas, and algae that soak up carbon dioxide and turn it into hydrocarbon fuels. “This could be one of the most powerful tools in biology” stressed Venter.
Hamilton Smith, a Nobel laureate who is another leader of the research, voiced: “I believe this work has important implications in better understanding the fundamentals of biology to enable the final stages of our work in creating and booting up a synthetic genome. This is possibly one of the most important new findings in the field of synthetic genomics”.
-----------------------------------------
Gene genie
Scientists have made significant steps towards wiping-out incurable hereditary diseases, by creating monkeys which have a mix of DNA from three parents.
Around 50 known genetic diseases are caused by defects in mitochondrial DNA – or mDNA - and affect about one in 6,500 births in the UK. As well as conditions such as fatal liver-failure, blindness, diabetes and deafness, these gene mutants play a role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
It’s hoped this new work will pave the way to eradicate these diseases. MDNA is always passed down from the mother to her children, so if a woman carries the defect, her offspring are guaranteed to get it.
But the team from Oregon National Primate Research Centre, USA, have effectively created monkeys with two mothers and one father – swapping the macaque monkey mother’s mDNA for the mDNA of a donor egg.
Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov, who led the research team, said: “With the proper government approvals, our work can rapidly be translated into clinical trials for humans, and, eventually, approved therapies”.
However the work is controversial because the genetic changes made could be passed down through generations. Mitalipov countered: “we are talking about birth defects that cause terrible diseases. The only way to treat them is to replace the genes”.
See the Guardian for more.
-----------------------------------------
Defying gravity
According to physics it shouldn’t really exist. Astronomers have found an enormous planet that orbits its star so closely gravity should soon send it spiralling into its sun’s searing surface.
Planet WASP-18b is ten times the size of Jupiter, and gravitational tidal interactions between it and its sun should be destructively pulling them together.
“The problem with this planet is that it’s very massive and very close to its star. It should be creating tidal bulges that makes it spiral into its star”, said Professor Andrew Collier Cameron of St Andrew’s University.
Astronomers say the discovery is very very unusual, and the chance of finding it at this stage is about 1 in 2,000. The planet’s at least 1 billion years old, yet has no more than half a million years left.
WASP-18b is 1,000 light years from Earth, and is one of more than 300 known “exoplanets”. Cameron said temperatures there exceed 2,100C. This is enough to create clouds of silica-based gems, so if anyone could visit the planet, they may see a sky full of diamonds and sapphires, he added.
Read all about it in the Independent.
-----------------------------------------
Trials on trial
There are big bucks to be made from medical research. There’s also gratifying discoveries, but researchers can sign commercial funding agreements or start companies – before testing is over – to turn out profitable treatments.
So where do the trial participants stand in this, do they have a right to know about monetary interests? Right now, legally no. But findings over the last few years suggest that ethically they should be informed before they agree to take part.
A letter published last week, featuring data and reports from numerous high-profile US institutions examines the goals and challenges of letting patients in on this information. Kevin Weinfurt, the paper’s lead author and an associate professor at Duke University in Durham, USA, said informing participants will lead to “better patient welfare”, “create trust” and “ultimately discourage financial conflicts of interest”.
However, some researchers say focussing on informing patients about financial interests is skirting a bigger issue. “What really matters”, said Scott Kim, associate professor in the bioethics programme at the University of Michigan, USA, is “that we understand conflict in the conception, design and implementation of the research – and the presentation of the data”.
“Society has put so much trust into academia as a disinterested, objective, honourable, above-the-fray institution – and researchers are like that, too” he added. But “most people don’t realise that these institutions have tremendous incentives to behave like for-profit institutions”. A major overhaul would be needed to change that perception and the current regulation. “Do we need to now reconceive these institutions and individuals? Where do we draw the line?”
Reported in Scientific America.
-----------------------------------------
Fake trees for real life
Carbon-grabbing artificial trees could soon be coming to a street near you, says the BBC.
These devices are the size of a shipping container and can remove thousands of times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as real trees. Within 10 to 20 years 100,000 could be deployed to combat climate change.
This geo-engineering idea is one of three highlighted in a new report from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. The report contains a number of proposed technologies to use on a short term basis to buy the world time. However the authors stress in the long term it is vital to reduce emissions.
Lead author Dr Tim Fox said geo-engineering is not a “silver bullet” and can’t combat climate change in isolation.
Two types of geo-engineering are defined by the authors. “The first category attempts to cool the planet by reflecting some of the sunlight away. The problem with that is it just masks the problem” said Nem Vaughan of University of East Anglia. “The second type of geo-engineering is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it.”
However the report called for carbon-removing technology to be advanced along with a carbon storage infrastructure. The captured carbon could be stored in empty North Sea oil wells.
Other technologies preferred by the report included use algae units to remove carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. These could be installed onto new buildings or added to old. Another option focussed on reflecting sunlight back into space, which could be done by giving buildings reflective roofs.
-----------------------------------------
Google me
Ever googled your own name? Many people would have to put their hands up, but now a company called Personas can take this one step further, data-mining the web to see how you’re viewed by the online world.
The company was set-up by Aaron Zinman, a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab. It runs a search on a given name, extracts statements from the web, and runs words from these through an algorithm. These are then linked to 28 topics, such as “travel” and “professional”.
The results can be a mixed bag. As well as making clear errors – such as defaulting statements to the wrong topic, or completely misinterpreting them – if you have a common name or share it with someone famous the data can have little relevance.
But the project wasn’t set up to create a useful application. Zinman created the company to highlight problems with computer analysis of large data sets, and describes Personas as “a critique on data mining”.
It’s part of an exhibit called Metropath(ologies) at the MIT Museum in Cambridge. This is described as an “installation about living in a world overflowing with information and non-stop communication”.
Some scientists think the criticism is unfair, though it is a “fun project”. “Criticising data mining for some people’s inability to separate false associations from real ones is like criticising the web because there are many bad pages” said Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro, president of KDnuggets, a data-mining consultancy in Boston.
See what Personas thought of New Scientist, and vice versa, here.
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